The Executioner's Drum
by Kellybug
Summary: What if healing heart needs to be healed ? (ANGST WARNING !!!)


  
QUESTION: What happens when the Healer needs to be healed ?  
  
The Executioner's Drum   
  
(An Alternate Sailormoon ? )  
  
BY : Kelly Paul Graham.  
  
Disclaimer: NONE of the characters are my own. They belong to   
Naoko Takeuchi  
  
  
  
Crystal Tokyo- 30th century.  
  
Chiba Usagi had woken up before the dawn, which was unusual in itself, to a   
strange uneasiness at the very center of her being. "Never," she thought, "have I  
felt this scared !" A sudden chill came over her as the world around her, once   
bright and beautiful, became shadowy- and foreign.   
Instinctively, she ran to her Parent's room. Something was wrong- but what ?  
Quietly, Usagi slipped into her parent's bedroom. She crept close enough to   
see if everything alright.  
It was all Usagi could do to keep from screaming.  
Her mother, Neo-Queen Serenity, lay very still and pale. She seemed to be   
breathing normally, but when Usagi reached out to touch her to see if her mom was  
alright, Neo-Serenity felt cold to the touch. Usagi started to cry.  
But no one seemed to notice.  
Usagi slipped back out of the room, then ran down the hallway almost in a   
blind-panic and tripping over herself. "What's happening ?", she asked herself   
again and again. Each time she was met only by silence. Then she noticed something   
else, something feint and dread. Something that followed her very heartbeat as a   
shadow. The drumbeat of the executioner.  
As Usagi entered her room, her first responce was to find a place to run and   
hide- as if one could hide from death, she thought. Death was taking her Mother   
and her in one swing of the scathe.   
"No !" Usagi slowed her panic enough to think. "There must be SOMETHING I can   
do !" Death was expected- even Usagi knew that. Even Crystal Tokyo was not immune.   
Death was a part of nature. But this death did not- seem- natural.   
Usagi opened a cabinet under her bed. "Beneath my diary," she remembered,   
"THERE !" She carefully removed the small key. "A small key for our Small Lady !"   
Sailor Pluto had said, all those five years back. "The Keys of Time are precious,"   
Pluto had said, "and their use should never be abused !"  
"But I HAVE to use them, Puu !" Usagi whispered. "Mommy's in trouble !"   
"Take me.." Usagi whispered through her tears, "to Old Tokyo!"  
  
Toyko, Japan- 20th century.  
  
Chiba Usagi found herself in front of Tokyo General.  
"Why am I at the hospital ?" thought Usagi. Stealing herself for the possibilties   
ahead, she went to the Admissions Desk. "Pardon me," she asked, "I'm looking for   
Tsukino Usagi ?"  
The nurse at the desk checked the patients' lists. "Room 331", she said.   
"Arigato."  
Chiba Usagi went quickly to her mother's hospital room. She was the only occupant.   
As Usagi moved closer, she could see her mother was asleep. Rather, she hoped she was   
sleeping. She PRAYED she was sleeping. As she crept closer, she heard her mother's,   
Usagi's, breath. She was indeed asleep, although the sluggish breath suggested sedation.   
Usagi saw her mother's chart. What she read caused her to tremble: Usagi was recovering   
from an overdose of barbituates. "Why?" was all she could whisper as she trembled.  
"Hello, Usa", spoke a calm voice behind her. The voice startled Usagi out of her   
contemplation. She turned around.  
"Shingo-sama !" a startled Usagi said after she twirled around. "What are you   
doing here ?"  
"Gaurding my sister", the boy said evenly.   
"Gaurding ?" Asked a stunned Usagi. "From...?"  
"..Having to be a Sailor Senshi ", was Shingo's answer in his same even tone.  
" 'Sailor Senshi' ?" echoed Usa. She looked her beloved uncle straight in the   
eyes. "How long have you known of the Sailors?" She had been told her uncle could   
keep a secret, when it needed keeping.  
"Long enough to read this." Shingo unfolded an envelope addressed to Chiba   
Mamoru. He unfolded the letter inside and handed it to Usa. "You look enough like   
Usagi to be her sister... or daughter." Usagi froze at this revelation. How much   
did Uncle Shingo know ?   
Usagi felt an icy chill run over her as she read the letter:  
  
Dearest Mamoru,  
  
If you are reading this, it means I am probably dead or dying. Please forgive   
me. I cannot bear the pain of being the Princess of the Moon any longer. The others   
say that I am the heart of the Sailor Senshi. But this heart is burning out. My   
friends are hurting because of me, and I can help them no longer. I guess I could   
never help them, although I have tried more times than I can remember. But the burdens   
are too great. Please forgive me. Of all the Youma we have faced, and all the generals,   
and fears, none have been greater than the fears inside. The despair has killed my   
spirit. Let my body now join it. Rei will be better off without my spirit dragging   
her down. So will Ami, and Mako, and Minako. And you will be free of my curse. All   
I wanted was to live a normal life. Now all I want is sleep. Please forgive me.  
  
Usagi.  
  
Usa trembled as she put her mother's farewell-letter down. "Where is Mamoru ?"   
she whispered.  
"I have been by Usagi for these long hours."  
"And my grandparents ?"  
"They are at home, in shock."  
"And the Senshi ?" Usagi asked. Surely her aunts would be here.  
"It is best they are not here," Shingo replied, "it is they who brought this on."  
Usagi was weakened by this last remark. "How ... can this be ?" she asked her   
uncle weakly.  
" They have not come to see Usagi in three weeks ! In three weeks, my sister slid   
into this depression ! They are as bad as Chiba !" Shingo spoke his name as a curse.  
" This cannot be !" Usagi thought. "I will find them, Uncle Shingo ! They MUST come !"  
Neither one noticed the letter vanish, taken by an unseen hand. Then, just as   
unnoticed, it reappeared.  
" If you can find them, Chibi-Usa, bring them quickly. Maybe they are what her   
spirit needs to live again."  
" I hope you are right, my uncle", said Usa. "For all our sakes," she added in   
a whisper.  
After Chibi-Usa left the room, Shingo allowed himself the time to cry.  
" I cannor bear to see another sunrise without you here, Usagi !"   
  
Mizuno Ami was heading off towards her house after some extra study after school. She   
had missed Usagi all day, and was wondering where she had been. Although she was habitually   
late, Usagi was not one to really miss a full day of school. "Ah, well,"Ami thought,   
"I'll help her catch up on her lessons. It may take awhile." Ami laughed out loud at that,   
for one usually had to threaten Usagi with a book over the head before she would open it.   
But, once it was open, Usagi was pretty good at studying it. Although this usually meant   
late-night sessions. But, Ami had to admit, if only to herself, that studying with Usagi   
was somehow refreshing.  
"How different we are", Ami thought. Ami, the industrious study, and Usagi, the flighty   
dreamer. But, in a way, the flighty dreamer was Ami's surest anchor through some very lonely   
years. It was hard, growing up with just a mother , and no brothers or sisters to share your   
thoughts and dreams with. And secrets. It was hard, having to keep the fact that she was   
Sailor Mercury from her mother. Usagi understood. But that was starting to be behind her again.   
Mizuno Ami had a second chance at studying abroad.   
The first time she turned down the offer to go abroad- because the Sailor Senshi needed   
her. And, in a way, she needed them. And part of her never thought the chance would come again.   
But it had. Mizuno Ami was going to study to become a doctor like her mother ! This is   
what she wanted ! To be like her mother.  
Of course, her decision had not been easy. That is why she had stayed away from   
the other Senshi.  
This choice was difficult to make the first time. And that was less than a year after the   
Senshi had been together. With the passing of weeks and months of friendship behind her now,   
the same decision with all her sisters present would have been imposible.  
"Sisters ?" Ami-chan thought. "Yes, we are sisters."  
The heavy thud at the door broke Ami from her memories. She opened the door to be startled   
by a Samurai's arrow embedded in the wood. After a couple of missed heartbeats, Ami regained   
her composure and then noticed the letter tied around the arrow's shaft. Ami untied it and   
then read it. Her hands started to tremble and she went deathly pale as she read Usagi's writing.  
Then she screamed as someone who'd just lost their soul .  
For unknown minutes Ami-chan stood there crying, adrift from the outside world. When she   
registered the phone ringing, Ami softly picked it up.  
"H-He .. Hello?" She answered through her tears. "Mizuno residence."  
"Ami," said her mother, "you best get to the hospital. Tsukino Usagi is in serious condition."  
"Ami," her mother added sadly, "Usagi-chan may not live long."  
Ami hung up the phone and raced out of the house.  
"USAGI !!!!! "  
Her heart was pumping hard as she prayed she would get to Usagi in time. But even as   
she breathed heavily and her heart raced, she could hear something else through her tears.  
She heard the steady pounding of the executioner's drum.  
  
She entered Tokyo General almost dead from exhaustion, entering Doctor Mizuno's office   
and collapsing in tears on the couch. Ami's mother entered the office a minute after Ami.   
"What happened to Usagi ?" Ami asked her mother, her blue eyes pleading for the truth.  
"Usagi-chan," Dr. Mizuno said haltingly, knowing how her daughter felt about Usagi,   
"overdosed on barbituates. She's alright now, but ..."  
"Overdose ? Barbituates ?" Ami stannered. "But, how ? Usagi was not dieting ?"  
Dr. Mizuno looked at her daughter sadly. "I know."  
Ami's lost soul found it's voice again, as Ami cried and sank to the office floor.   
"I should have been here. I should have seen this coming !"  
" You could not have known, Ami," her mother tried to comfort her. "There was nothing   
you could have done."  
" I could have been here for her ! It's my job.." cried Ami "My.. duty."  
Before her mother could answer, Ami stood up, transformation pen in hand.  
" MERCURY... STAR... POWER !!!!"  
As Dr. Mizuno sat transfixed, shimmering bands of energy enshrouded her daughter.   
In a mere moment, Mizuno Ami was no more. In her place stood Sailor Mercury.  
"Ami ?"  
"I am sorry I had to keep this from you, Mom. But Usagi and I felt it was best.   
We hoped our enemies would not learn our secrets and use you against us." As her mother   
reached out to hold her, Mercury continued. "Usagi is Sailor Moon, my leader and... my   
friend. She is also Princess Usagi of the Moon Kingdom, who I'm sworn to protect."  
Then a weary, frightened Senshi fell into her mother's arms. "But I failed !", Mercury   
cried. "How can I be a Senshi... how can I be a doctor... if I can't even save.." Her voice   
trailed off in tears. "Oh, Usagi !"  
Beyond her daughter's sobs, Dr. Mizuno heard the beating of the executioner's drum.  
  
At her family's shrine, Hino Rei sat before the sacred fire. Her thoughts were dark, as   
they had been for the past three weeks. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Wrong with Usagi.   
But what could it be? And how could it be? There had been no youma resently. The spirits seemed   
to be at rest. All but Tsukino Usagi's. And this troubled Hino Rei.  
"Call to your sister-spirit", came a voice from behind the priestess. Rei's grandfather   
made no other sound as he walked to the fire and it's attendent.  
"I have tried, grandfather ! Her spirit does not answer !"  
"Maybe it cannot", the old man replied.  
At his words, Hino Rei felt a wall of ice entomb her heart. Rei tried desperately to think   
of Usagi. This wandering dreamer had first appeared to Hino Rei to be little more than a   
whirlwind. But she had proven to be so much more. Usagi's heart, it seemed, saw more than the   
ever-observant eyes of every Sailor Senshi combined. And her ears seemed to pick up the tiniest   
cry and the merest trickle of a tear. Hino Rei never could think of her sister- yes, Usagi   
WAS HER sister, though not by blood- as a warrior, although fate had made her one. No. Usagi was   
no Senshi. She was more. She was a lover, a healer. But- and this thought turned her whole body   
to ice- what if a healer needed to be healed ?  
Rei's thought were brought back to earth by her grandfather. "This- is for you, Rei-chan".   
He handed the note to the priestess.  
Rei read Usagi's writing. "NO !!!!" Rei threw herself to the floor. How could this be ?   
Usagi's spirit was as strong and sure as the mountain, Rei tried to reassure herself.   
Usagi always sprang back like the willows ! What could have caused this ? Her mind raced for   
answers as Rei felt her own spirit tremble and crack. "Oh, Usagi ! How I need your spirit now !"  
Rei's grandfather spoke as if in answer. "Even the strongest mountain crumbles to the attacks   
of the wind and waves. Go to her."  
Rei turned once more to the fire. Tokyo General.  
"Usagi ..." she whispered.  
Rei ran out of the shrine and down the street.  
"USAGI !!!"  
Through the wind and the beating of her heart, Rei could hear it. Although she desperately   
wanted not to:  
The slow rhythm of the executioner's drum.  
  
Kino Makoto had just finished cleaning her apartment- for the tenth time today. Now she sat down for some tea.   
"It's hard to be on my own again", she thought to herself, "but it's better this way."  
Being on "my own", also known as no Sailor-Senshi. Makoto tried to reassure herself she was   
doing the right thing.. No contact for three weeks now. Usagi would be hurt, Makoto knew, but it was for the best.   
It HAD to be.  
They had all died once already as Sailor-Senshi. And had almost died once more since then... or   
was it twice ? Death she could take. It seemed to be an old aqueintance by now. But she couldn't take loosing her   
friends. Not like she almost lost the Senshi, and Kenichi. And how she lost ...  
No. It was better this way. Better to live and die a hermit, surrounded by nothing but pots and pans and plants.   
So what if the Senshi were her sisters ?  
And the Senshi WERE sisters ! " I can't watch my family die ! I can't afford to say goodbye ! Not again." Makoto   
had cried this to Usagi the last time they were together. Makoto had tried to keep those words inside of her.   
But Usagi could almost tell when something was wrong on the inside. It was her own trouble-detector, Usagi had joked   
before. And Usagi drew the problem and Makoto's words out like a magnet. Usagi then put her arms protectively around   
Makoto, trying to soothe her, to make her better. But it didn't work. It couldn't. And Usagi understood. She and   
Makoto were a lot alike there. "Nobody needs to be hurt, nobody needs to die, because of me."  
Makoto was roused from her thoughs by a THUD at the door. She opened the door half- asleep, only to be shocked   
awake by the sight of a Samurai's arrow embedded in the door. She then saw the note that was tied around it. As   
she read Usagi's writing, fear welled up inside her.   
"No. Not Usagi-chan. Please, not her !"  
All Makoto could see in front of her was a casket.  
Makoto went racing out of her apartment. "USAGI !!!" was all she could cry out as she tried to out-distance the   
sound she kept hearing in her mind:   
The rhythmic striking of the executioner's drum.  
  
Aino Minako raced from her house trying to comprehend the words of Usagi's letter attached to the arrow in the door.   
"That arrow would have been faster and less painful if it had gone through my heart."  
All through her life, Minako thought, she had felt strangely alone and lonely. "I guess that's   
why I tried to make people like me", she thought. Always being the class clown, and a bit of the trouble-maker,   
to keep friends.   
But she did not have to do that with Usagi. Usagi took people as they were. "Hold it! ", she caught herself.   
" 'Are'. As they ARE ! Oh, Usagi ! Be alright. Please be alright !!"   
When they first met, Usagi seemed a bit of a ditz. But then, remembered Minako with a giggle, so was I !  
Rei always seemed to chide Usagi about being lazy and a dreamer , and for not taking their jobs seriously.   
And Ami seemed at times to coach a bit too much. "But Usagi's always there to cheer us on. To get us to give our best ! "  
"Oh, Usagi ! Without you encouraging me- I don't know when I would do even my half-best ! Where would I find the   
energy ? Well, hang in there, my Princess. I'm coming !"  
Even as she said this, Minako could here a faint beating get stronger.  
The drumbeat of the executioner.  
  
Usa had not gotten any answers from the Senshi when she called.   
"Oh, PLEASE ! Let that mean they're on their way to mommy", she whispered in prayer. Then she prepared herself   
for what she had to do. She just hoped she had to strength. Already she could feel herself fading, as if she had   
never been. "Is it already too late ?" She caught herself asking. She prayed for a little more time.  
Usa made it finally to Mamoru's apartment and knocked at the door. "Mamoru ! Mamoru !" she screamed.   
"I'm coming !" Mamoru replied. "Can I help ...?", he began to ask. "Chibi-Usa ?" he asked as he stared at an   
older Chiba Usagi than he remembered for last time. "What are you doing here ? I have to get to work, but you're   
welcome to rest until I get back."  
"NO !!! ", Usa cried. " You have to go to Mommy NOW !!!" Before Mamoru could say another word, Usa thrusted   
Usagi's letter in front of him.   
Mamoru read the letter with a look of disbelief. Was this Usagi ? HIS Usagi ???  
"Where is she ? Where's Usagi ?" Mamoru finally said in halting words.   
"Mommy's at Tokyo General", Chibi-Usa replied.  
" Then she's alright", Mamoru said with relief.  
" No she's not. " Usa said.  
" What do you mean ?"  
" LOOK AT ME !!!" Usa commanded.  
Mamoru looked, terror-stricken at what he saw.   
Chibi-Usa was flickering, like a candle flame in a windstorm.  
Mamoru and Usa raced to Tokyo General.  
Racing with them, the beat of the executioner's drum.  
  
The Senshi and Mamoru (and Chibi-Usa) met in Dr. Minuzo's office to compare notes. Then the   
Senshi, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, and Dr. Mizuno go to Room 331 and Usagi. There everyone but Chibi-Usa   
leaves the elevator. Nobody notices Chibi-Usa fall to her knees at the back of the elevator.   
They are met in Usagi's room by Shingo.   
" She has not awakened", spoke a weary Shingo.  
Shingo tried not to speak from the venom in his heart. " I am glad to see you here, Senshi."   
Shingo then turns from the stunned Senshi. " It is good to see you here, too, Chiba-san."  
" You have Usa to thank for- Hey !" Mamoru exclaimed. "Where is Usa ?"  
" Uncle... Shingo !" Chibi-Usa cried out weakly. "I have done... what... I could. I fear... too...  
late..." Shingo rushed to his niece' side. "Usagi ! NO !!!" With Horror, all watched as the flame   
that was Chiba Usagi flickered out to the winds of time.  
Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Mamoru, Shingo, and Dr. Mizuno quickly gathered to where Usa had been.   
Suddenly, the elevator doors closed, and the car moved on to the basement.  
The floor of Tokyo General was quiet, save for the ever-growing beat of the executioner's drum.  
  
The elevator came to a stop in the basement of Tokyo General. The hospital halls were strangely   
quiet. The car's occupants spilled out into the corridor.  
The executioner's drum beats heaviest here.   
A glaive and a great key strike the beats.  
"What are we doing here ?" Mamoru exclaimed. "Where is Usagi ?"   
"The Future Queens sleeps" Entoned the small girl in purple Senshi- garb. In her hands she   
holds the glaive.  
"And the Future Princess is no more", came a voice from the other end of the corridor holding   
the key. The speaker was a tall woman with green hair and burning red eyes. "I am Meiou Setsuna ."  
"And I am Tomoe Hotaru" said the girl with the gleive. "We are here to judge."  
"Judge ?", came a vioce from a portal.  
"Judge what? Or who?", Artimis continued.  
"And where is Usagi ?", asked Luna.  
"Sailor Pluto !", Artimis whispered.  
"And Sailor Saturn !" Luna answered, with a sudden fear. Luna looked to Ami. "What's going on?   
Where's Usagi?"   
"Upstairs- in Room 331", Ami said softly through her tears.  
"Where's Chibi-Usa?", demanded Mamoru.  
"Chibi-Usa?", Atrimis asked.  
"The future-Princess is no more", Pluto repeated.  
"No... more ?", a stunned Luna asked.  
"And the future-Queen is asleep", Saturn repeated.  
"NOOOOOOOO !!!!" Luna screamed as she cast herself upon the floor. "Usagi !" Luna cried.   
"I failed you!" Then, in exhaustion, Luna cried, "Forgive me, my Princess .."  
"The House of Serenity is no more," began Sailor Pluto. "Cut off before it's time. We come   
to judge those accused."   
"A.. Accused ?" Minako asked.  
"And punish the guilty", Saturn continued.  
"Guilty? Of what?" Mamoru demanded.  
Weapons at the ready, the two strange Sailors spoke in unison:  
"Guilty of the death of Neo-Queen Serenity, who you knew as Tsukino Usagi- Sailor of the Moon !"  
"NO !!!" Cried Makoto as she thrusts her fist, then her whole body, into the hospital wall.   
She slid to the fall, trembling in fear and anger. "It can't end.." she cried, "like this."  
"Usagi ? Dead ?" Mamoru asked, shocked. "How ?"  
"We did it," said Rei through her tears, "all of us."  
"WE did it ???" Mamoru asked increduously. "How ? You are the Senshi ! I am Prince Endymion!   
We are here to protect the Princess from ALL harm !!" Mamoru, stood up, wishing this would   
some way, any way, proove to be just a nightmare. Or else that someone would say something   
that would make sense to him. Anything. But all he heard was silence. No drumbeat. Just the   
terrible mocking silence.  
"We strove to protect Usagi", Rei continued through her tears, " from all the youma Mitalla   
and Beryl could send at us, and then from Rubeus. And all the time, we could not save her   
from our own darkness."  
" 'Our own Darkness'?" Mamoru repeated, as the meaning of Rei's words hammered their way   
into his subconscience. "Our own Darkness."  
"I wanted to pick up my life," Ami said in a tone that screamed accusation. "I wanted to be a   
doctor, a healer. I stayed away from my from my sisters to make this decision," Ami turned to   
bury her face in her mother's breasts, "and I helped kill my.. best friend !"  
"I looked at what was happening," said Rei through her tears. "and I couldn't SEE it ! I thought   
'If I wait a little while it will clear up! I'll see it better! Than I'll advise Usagi!' But minutes   
turned to days, and then to weeks, and.. and.." Rei collapsed on the floor. "Oh.. Usagi !"  
"I felt- that I was destined to be alone," a deadened Makoto admitted. "Death always seems to   
follow me. So I thought: 'Maybe, It's best if I leave, before someone gets hurt.' But someone has."   
Makoto curled up in a fetal position, trying hard to hold on to a pleasant memory for the few   
moments she knew she had left.   
"I've thought, since we met," Minako said, " that Usagi could always find the good in someone   
and pull it out! That Usagi could just energize a life, recharge it when it was down! I never   
thought of what it cost her. We never guessed." Minako's head slumped, waiting for the inevitable.  
Mamoru just stood there silent. What could he add. He could have been there, SHOULD have   
been there, to hold his Usagi. But he wasn't. He had his life to try to live for now. Besides,   
he had all eternity to be with Usagi. But what is eternity, compared to a lifetime.   
"Let it fall, Tomoe Hotaru," Luna cried. "End it... Now!"  
Sailor Saturn spoke. "Tsukino Shingo! Your sister needs you. Go !"  
" Dr. Mizuno," continued Sailor Pluto, "may go or stay. It is her choice."  
The drum started to beat again.  
" Mom," Ami whispered through her tears, "please, go! You are needed elsewhere."  
" My daughter needs me most", countered Dr. Mizuno.  
" But, Mom, you will die !" Ami protested.  
" I will be with my daughter." Dr. Mizuno embrased her daughter, cradling her tightly one last time.  
Sailor Saturn lifted up the glaive.  
The drumbeats became unmerciful.  
" Death... Reborn..."  
" Stop the execution !!!" A small voice from the elevator commanded.  
  
All assembled turned to the elevator. There stood Princess Usagi- at least, her spirit.  
" Usagi !" Shingo wept.  
" Usagi ! I am sorry !" Rei cried. "I should have seen..."   
" At least," said Makoto, "you are at peace."  
" I am not dead, Mako-chan. Not yet" Usagi beckoned. "Come back to the room. We will talk there."   
  
Tsukino Usagi opened her eyes slowly. It was unbelievably painful to even move a little. As   
her eyes adjusted to the lights of the room, Usagi could make out the faces of concern around her:   
Rei, Ami and Dr. Mizuno, Mamoru, Minako, Artimis, Mako, Shingo, and Luna. Even the judges, Sailors   
Pluto and Satern, were there. Usagi took a deep breath.  
" I really screwed-up", she sighed. Then she started to cry softly. "I didn't mean to hurt you.   
I tried to help. And I let you down . So much."   
Rei looked into the tearing eyes of her Princess- of her friend- of her sister. "You did not   
let us down, Usagi-sama," she said as she held Usagi hand protectively. "We let you down."  
" We were honored to hold a most-fragile nestling" said Minako, "before it could fly, and we   
dropped it."   
" We were so involved in our problems and hurts, Usagi," Ami said, "that we couldn't see how   
hurting you were."  
" But never again !" Makoto said.  
" Never again !" Ami, Rei, Minako, and Mamoru answered in unison.  
" Rest now, Odango", Mamoru smiled.  
" I will", Usagi said.  
Luna settled down on the bed, content in knowing her Princess was alive. And ever-vigilant to   
any harm that might befall Usagi.  
" And I'll be safe", smiled Usagi. "After all, what are sisters for ? And brothers ?   
Arigato, Shingo!"  
Shingo smiled and hugged his sister lightly. "What are little-brothers for?"   
he said with a kiss.  
" And daughters", Usagi whispered softly as she looked out the doorway and smiled to Chibi-Usa.  
" Our work here is completed", said Sailor Saturn. She and Sailor Pluto then walked down   
the corridor and out of the hospital.  
Chiba Usagi then held the time-key from around her neck. "Crystal Tokyo!" she whispered.  
  
Crystal Tokyo- 30th Century.  
  
Chiba Usagi woke up a bit earlier than she usually did. Quite a bit early, in fact. But this day,   
she thought, should start out special.   
As she wondered down the hallways of the palace, she would occasionally look out the windows   
east into the pre-dawn skies. She could see the last of the shimmering stars of the night. And   
across the ocean, she saw the first hints of the coming day.  
" No wonder Uncle Shingo loves this time of day so much !"  
The walk down to the beach was a bit tiring, but Usagi loved the soft kiss of the breeze as, every   
now and then, she saw a bit more of the swiftly-approaching dawn. Soon, she was at the beach. "Uncle   
Shingo !" Usagi called out. "Aunt Hotaru !"  
" Ah ! Usagi-chan !" Shingo exclaimed. "I am honored you could join your Aunt and I !" He hugged   
his neice warmly.  
" I would not have missed it !" Usagi smiled. "To be asked to greet the morning by my uncle and aunt !"   
Hotaru came out with the tea and breakfast. Soba, of course.   
The trio stood for a while, then saluted the sun as it rose over the waves. Then solemnly drank   
the tea and joyously hugged one another.  
" I am always grateful for another sunrise," said Shingo. "There is promise to the coming day !"  
  
While, back at the palace, Neo-Queen Serenity watched the coming sun, and smiled.  
  
  
  
  
Sayonara.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Any comments, criticisms, or whatever should be sent to  
  
kgraham@wt.net  
  
Arigato :)  
  
  
  
  



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